Cortical activity during the first 4 months after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction while performing an...

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is thought to alter the way in which the brain receives and processes information, affecting body movements. Although alterations in brain activity after ACL rupture have been described, these are limited to time points more than 6 months after rupture. Therefore, this pilot study aims to investigate cortical activity during an active knee joint position sense (JPS) test within the first 4 months after ACL reconstruction.

Twelve participants with ACL reconstruction (nine males; age 25.3 ± 6.4 years; height 173.6 ± 8.0 cm; mass 71.1 ± 9.1 kg) and 12 matched healthy controls (nine males; age 28.8 ± 9.7 years; height 174.5 ± 9.7 cm; mass 72.7 ± 12.7 kg) performed an active knee JPS test in an open kinetic chain with a starting angle of 90° knee flexion and a target angle of 50°. Absolute angular error was measured with an electrogoniometer. Cortical activity was simultaneously recorded with dry electroencephalography. Participants with ACL reconstruction were measured at 5-8 weeks postoperative (M1) and 12-16 weeks postoperative (M2), the control group once. Power spectra for the frequencies, theta (4.75-6.75 Hz), alpha-1 (7.0-9.5 Hz) and alpha-2 (9.75-12.5 Hz) for frontal, central and parietal regions of interest were calculated.

Participants with ACL reconstruction exhibited significantly higher central theta power during JPS testing with their uninvolved leg at M1 compared with M2 (adjusted P = 0.01; rank epsilon squared = 0.39). No other comparisons yielded statistically significant differences.

The results cautiously support current evidence on cortical alterations following ACL reconstruction. A larger sample size and more measurement time points may provide further insight into possible alterations in the early postoperative period.